‘Dentists with a Heart’ come to the rescue
Of the numerous life lessons parents try to teach youngsters, brushing your teeth after every meal, or at least twice a day, is as solid a lesson as they come — for health and financial reasons.
What could be worse than being unemployed and without insurance, and suddenly you encounter a problem with your teeth? The Fox River Valley Dental Society understands that dilemma.
The society’s upcoming “Dentists with a Heart” promotion, in which area dentists provide free cleanings and other services on specific days Feb. 1-27, allows those who are on hard times to keep their teeth in good shape.
The society, which organizes this event annually, calls the free dental care offer a Valentine’s Day present for those in need.
A schedule of the Tri-Cities and Elburn dentists involved and the day they are offering the free cleanings and fillings (with some providing routine extractions) is available at dentistwithaheartonline.org.
No phone calls or appointments are taken, as the service operates on a first-come, first-serve basis. The only exception listed is Dr. Andrea Adam’s office on La Fox Road in St. Charles that requests appointments only.
I spoke to Dr. Martin Kolinski about the free service day last year and he told me it makes for a busy day, but everyone on staff at his Tyler Road clinic in St. Charles enjoys it because they realize it is a valuable service to offer during difficult economic times.
And Kolinski would know about it being a busy day. His practice with Dr. Tricia Crosby offers the most hours of any office involved, providing free service from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Feb. 7.
Losing hot dogs: It was disappointing to see that Slider Franks on the east side of St. Charles has closed already, about five months after it opened. They offered some interesting hot dog and hamburger choices, but that location in the Butera shopping area has proved to be a revolving door for some reason. I sensed some trouble with this eatery when they were out of a few menu items once when I was ordering. That’s never a good sign.Gaining pizza: A Pal Joey#146;s pizza restaurant in Batavia? Now there#146;s some news to shout about. We#146;ve taken the ride to Pal Joey#146;s in West Chicago several times over the past 30 years so for restaurant owners to be thinking about coming a little closer is welcome news, indeed.They reportedly are eyeing the Fox#146;s on the River location in Batavia. Pal Joey#146;s would have a real fighting chance to do well in that location and put an end to the restaurants going in and out of there on a regular basis.On the healthy side: Lorrie Marsiglio, who handles public relations for various organizations in the area, has long supported natural health remedies. She#146;s often touted the work of Dr. Martin Plotkin of Wellness Concepts LLC in St. Charles.She#146;d like to see others show up for a free program about natural health approaches from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, at the Carnegie Room in the St. Charles Public Library. Plotkin and other members of the Wellness Concepts staff, and instructors from Prana Yoga, will discuss what they do in natural orthopedic, allergy nutrition, exercise, homeopathy and thermography.Plotkin has more than 45 years of experience as a certified orthopedic surgeon, physician and educator. Anyone interested in learning more can sign up at (630) 587-4338.Just keep running: Years ago, you#146;d rarely hear about a running event taking place during winter months. During our #147;fake winter#148; this year when temperatures were quite pleasant during most of December and the first part of January, you could have staged a running event every week.But the Geneva Park District plans to forge ahead and hope for fairly decent weather on Super Bowl Sunday when it hosts the Super Bowl Shuffle 5K at 10 a.m. Feb. 5 at Geneva Middle School South.Those who want a Super Bowl Shuffle hooded sweatshirt should register before Wednesday, Feb. 1. by calling (630) 232-4542 or sign up online at genevaparks.org.What do I know?: I admit to being rather ignorant about what makes a great department store, yet continue to wonder why Sears always seems to struggle. It would be fine by me if someone declared Sears as the only department store a community could have.Unfortunately, we lost our Sears when the corporation decided to move that store out of Charlestowne Mall, thus making that location even more of a ghost town.Some detailed research would likely reveal answers. Is Sears#146; pricing competitive in the electronics arena? And what did the acquisition of Kmart really do for the corporation#146;s quarterly financial reports? No need for concern: Many readers have asked why my column has not been appearing on Wednesdays in addition to the Sunday piece. One even asked if maybe I was dealing with a health concern.Thankfully, a heath issue is not the case. But I appreciate all of the feedback from readers.The Wednesday column is on hiatus for the time being mainly because I am adjusting to new regular full-time job hours, while continuing to do columns and other assignments for the Daily Herald on a freelance basis.dheun@sbcglobal.net